Females with Stereotypical "Male" Autism Presentation

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One of the reasons I don't like the recent "female autism phenotype" concept is because there are obviously females who don't fit that profile.

For those of you who don't know, "female autism phenotype" or "female autism presentation" refers to

internalizing stress
repetitive/restricted interests that revolve around animals (that includes humans)
passable social and language skills
faking non-autistic behavior, particularly by mimicking people

In contrast, male autistics are supposedly more often properly diagnosed because they tend to

act out (with aggression or meltdowns)
have repetitive/restricted interests that revolve around objects and clearly unusual things like bus schedules
not be subject to the social expectations that females are subject to, thus they tend to not develop as many social behaviors that would help them pass as non-autistic

So for those of you who lean towards the "male autism presentation," what do you think of this "female autism phenotype" in relation to yourself?

I found this article on the subject so I could learn more: https://medium.com/@KristenHovet/what-is-the-female-autism-phenotype-41a129b5fe73

The female phenotype doesn't really seem to apply to me. Maybe that's why I got diagnosed earlier? This part in particular:

I relate very little to descriptions of "female autism," seeing all that makes me feel even more abnormal than usual because I'm supposed to relate but don't.

Not sure if being agender has anything to do with my autism presentation, I've never had much of a sense of femininity or anything.

agree somewhat,
i think i don't present anything, stereo or typical

maybe something with the bell curve?
of not much on the female outsides
all in the middle
(infotainment & (§§) searching for that conformable middle maybe?)

In my case, I simply fit less with the any socially aspiring types and the hyperverbal types -- regardless of their ability to function, their external expressions or their internal inclinations.

Therefore I fit less with the female representation than the male representation.


I got all the ideal female influences, the ideal circumstances for most of those autistics with social aspirations...
Yet it's a mismatch, because I'm not one.

Had that been the case, I would've been a bit happier, more grateful, and flourishing more than as I'm now.

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See the link below for a recent literature review on the current research on the female autism phenotype. This is written by Laura Hull, an emerging researcher on autism in females who is also doing groundbreaking work on camouflaging/masking in autism.

LINK HERE - The Female Autism Phenotype and Camouflaging: a Narrative Review

I was diagnosed early because I presented more like an autistic male when I was little (having meltdowns instead of internalizing my feelings, bad social skills, otherwise being easy to tell apart from others). I was able to get away with being this way through my elementary school years.

Once I started middle school, however, I had to mimic others' behaviors to survive. I wasn't perfect, but it helped me avoid bullying and/or harassment most of the way. I also became interested in human behavior and psychology around that time, so I would people-watch at school whenever I was alone during lunch. Whenever I interacted with non-autistic people, I paid extra attention to their behavior in an effort to hone my mimicking skills.

My interests are neither fully male- nor female-presenting (photography, chemistry, psychology, autism/autism rights, video games, etc.), but other than that, I very much follow the female autism phenotype.

I was diagnosed very young because I was stimming...a lot. I was diagnosed at five. When I started elementary school and started “growing out” of stimming, the autism traits weren’t even noticeable because I liked everything a “typical” young girl likes (dolls, cute things, boy bands etc...)

Now at 27 it’s still really hard to impossible to tell me have autism because my social skills, eye contact and even my interest in cute and pretty things are now the norm for a female my age and even older.

I don’t really have the male or female phenotype because my interest aren’t restrictive and I don’t and never have mimicked.

Everyone just thought I was mentally ret*d

I seem to be a blend of the male phenotype and the female phenotype though...

I'm somewhere in between. I'm high functioning enough and can mimic basic social skills enough so that, when I'm at baseline, I can pass fairly easily in most social situations, like running daily errands at the grocery store and such. But I'm also super logical, blunt, tactless, very aggressive when angry, and my interests are repetitive and systematic enough that they take most by surprise. When people get to know me well enough, they generally aren't all that surprised I'm autistic. It's very clear I lack the empathy and emotional intelligence of most women.

There are men with autism who fit the stereotype of "female autism" and women with autism who fit the stereotype of "male autism". I just think that both are more archetypes than strictly gender-related functionings (although I have read that women have better predispositions for certain social abilities).

with the Attwood rewatch, he mentions other options to ignore them completely and latch on to the imitation/ masking aspects,
from my (observations) masking is also an neurotypical trait as well as a sociopathic/ narcissistic trait,
so that may unfortunately change the whole diagnosis intention
< i could be wrong, but i suspect it's not completely wrong


and another, the as-professionals propose as a remedy teaching acting, wow

"so you say" i should be acting?
yeah, that's the normal thing to do